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Welding, Soldering, and Brazing Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders
Set up, operate, or tend welding, soldering, or brazing machines or robots that weld, braze, solder, or heat treat metal products, components, or assemblies. Includes workers who operate laser cutters or laser-beam machines.
Also Known As:
Braze Operator
Certified Welder
Fabricator
Finishing Technician (Finishing Tech)
Laser Operator
Machine Operator
Mig Welder
Spot Welder
Weld Technician (Weld Tech)
Welding Operator
Wages
Annual wages for Welding, Soldering, and Brazing Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders in United States
Job Outlook
Below Average
New job opportunities are less likely in the future
United States
2034 Projected Employment
35,400
-9% Change From 2024
Explore Welders, Cutters, Solderers, and Brazers video
Tasks you might complete in a day.
- Select torch tips, alloys, flux, coil, tubing, or wire, according to metal types or thicknesses, data charts, or records.
- Set dials and timing controls to regulate electrical current, gas flow pressure, heating or cooling cycles, or shut-off.
- Clean, lubricate, maintain, and adjust equipment to maintain efficient operation, using air hoses, cleaning fluids, and hand tools.
- Devise or build fixtures or jigs used to hold parts in place during welding, brazing, or soldering.
- Turn and press knobs and buttons or enter operating instructions into computers to adjust and start welding machines.
- Correct problems by adjusting controls or by stopping machines and opening holding devices.
- Clean, lubricate, maintain, and adjust equipment to maintain efficient operation, using air hoses, cleaning fluids, and hand tools.
- Assemble, align, and clamp workpieces into holding fixtures to bond, heat-treat, or solder fabricated metal components.
- Select, position, align, and bolt jigs, holding fixtures, guides, or stops onto machines, using measuring instruments and hand tools.
- Prepare metal surfaces or workpieces, using hand-operated equipment, such as grinders, cutters, or drills.
- Transfer components, metal products, or assemblies, using moving equipment.
- Add chemicals or materials to workpieces or machines to facilitate bonding or to cool workpieces.
- Fill hoppers and position spouts to direct flow of flux or manually brush flux onto seams of workpieces.
- Observe meters, gauges, or machine operations to ensure that soldering or brazing processes meet specifications.
- Add chemicals or materials to workpieces or machines to facilitate bonding or to cool workpieces.
- Read blueprints, work orders, or production schedules to determine product or job instructions or specifications.
- Lay out, fit, or connect parts to be bonded, calculating production measurements, as necessary.
- Read blueprints, work orders, or production schedules to determine product or job instructions or specifications.
- Conduct trial runs before welding, soldering, or brazing, and make necessary adjustments to equipment.
- Compute and record settings for new work, applying knowledge of metal properties, principles of welding, and shop mathematics.
- Start, monitor, and adjust robotic welding production lines.
- Prepare metal surfaces or workpieces, using hand-operated equipment, such as grinders, cutters, or drills.
- Anneal finished workpieces to relieve internal stress.
- Load or feed workpieces into welding machines to join or bond components.
- Record operational information on specified production reports.
- Set up, operate, or tend welding machines that join or bond components to fabricate metal products or assemblies.
- Set dials and timing controls to regulate electrical current, gas flow pressure, heating or cooling cycles, or shut-off.
- Assemble, align, and clamp workpieces into holding fixtures to bond, heat-treat, or solder fabricated metal components.
- Select, position, align, and bolt jigs, holding fixtures, guides, or stops onto machines, using measuring instruments and hand tools.
- Dress electrodes, using tip dressers, files, emery cloths, or dressing wheels.
- Fill hoppers and position spouts to direct flow of flux or manually brush flux onto seams of workpieces.
- Remove completed workpieces or parts from machinery, using hand tools.
- Devise or build fixtures or jigs used to hold parts in place during welding, brazing, or soldering.
- Load or feed workpieces into welding machines to join or bond components.
- Compute and record settings for new work, applying knowledge of metal properties, principles of welding, and shop mathematics.
- Lay out, fit, or connect parts to be bonded, calculating production measurements, as necessary.
- Inspect, measure, or test completed metal workpieces to ensure conformance to specifications, using measuring and testing devices.
- Clean, lubricate, maintain, and adjust equipment to maintain efficient operation, using air hoses, cleaning fluids, and hand tools.
- Mark weld points and positions of components on workpieces, using rules, squares, templates, or scribes.
- Give directions to other workers regarding machine set-up and use.
- Immerse completed workpieces into water or acid baths to cool and clean components.
- Tend auxiliary equipment used in welding processes.
- Prepare metal surfaces or workpieces, using hand-operated equipment, such as grinders, cutters, or drills.
Subject areas you may need to master.
- Production and Processing - Knowledge of raw materials, production processes, quality control, costs, and other techniques for maximizing the effective manufacture and distribution of goods.
- Economics and Accounting - Knowledge of economic and accounting principles and practices, the financial markets, banking, and the analysis and reporting of financial data.
- Customer and Personal Service - Knowledge of principles and processes for providing customer and personal services. This includes customer needs assessment, meeting quality standards for services, and evaluation of customer satisfaction.
- Administrative - Knowledge of administrative and office procedures and systems such as word processing, managing files and records, stenography and transcription, designing forms, and workplace terminology.
- Philosophy and Theology - Knowledge of different philosophical systems and religions. This includes their basic principles, values, ethics, ways of thinking, customs, practices, and their impact on human culture.
- Public Safety and Security - Knowledge of relevant equipment, policies, procedures, and strategies to promote effective local, state, or national security operations for the protection of people, data, property, and institutions.
- Law and Government - Knowledge of laws, legal codes, court procedures, precedents, government regulations, executive orders, agency rules, and the democratic political process.
- Administration and Management - Knowledge of business and management principles involved in strategic planning, resource allocation, human resources modeling, leadership technique, production methods, and coordination of people and resources.
- Design - Knowledge of design techniques, tools, and principles involved in production of precision technical plans, blueprints, drawings, and models.
- Food Production - Knowledge of techniques and equipment for planting, growing, and harvesting food products (both plant and animal) for consumption, including storage/handling techniques.
- Education and Training - Knowledge of principles and methods for curriculum and training design, teaching and instruction for individuals and groups, and the measurement of training effects.
- Sociology and Anthropology - Knowledge of group behavior and dynamics, societal trends and influences, human migrations, ethnicity, cultures, and their history and origins.
- Foreign Language - Knowledge of the structure and content of a foreign (non-English) language including the meaning and spelling of words, rules of composition and grammar, and pronunciation.
- Fine Arts - Knowledge of the theory and techniques required to compose, produce, and perform works of music, dance, visual arts, drama, and sculpture.
- Communications and Media - Knowledge of media production, communication, and dissemination techniques and methods. This includes alternative ways to inform and entertain via written, oral, and visual media.
- Transportation - Knowledge of principles and methods for moving people or goods by air, rail, sea, or road, including the relative costs and benefits.
- Physics - Knowledge and prediction of physical principles, laws, their interrelationships, and applications to understanding fluid, material, and atmospheric dynamics, and mechanical, electrical, atomic and sub-atomic structures and processes.
- Medicine and Dentistry - Knowledge of the information and techniques needed to diagnose and treat human injuries, diseases, and deformities. This includes symptoms, treatment alternatives, drug properties and interactions, and preventive health-care measures.
- Sales and Marketing - Knowledge of principles and methods for showing, promoting, and selling products or services. This includes marketing strategy and tactics, product demonstration, sales techniques, and sales control systems.
- Personnel and Human Resources - Knowledge of principles and procedures for personnel recruitment, selection, training, compensation and benefits, labor relations and negotiation, and personnel information systems.
- Mechanical - Knowledge of machines and tools, including their designs, uses, repair, and maintenance.
- Computers and Electronics - Knowledge of circuit boards, processors, chips, electronic equipment, and computer hardware and software, including applications and programming.
- History and Archeology - Knowledge of historical events and their causes, indicators, and effects on civilizations and cultures.
- Telecommunications - Knowledge of transmission, broadcasting, switching, control, and operation of telecommunications systems.
- Psychology - Knowledge of human behavior and performance; individual differences in ability, personality, and interests; learning and motivation; psychological research methods; and the assessment and treatment of behavioral and affective disorders.
- English Language - Knowledge of the structure and content of the English language including the meaning and spelling of words, and rules of composition and grammar.
- Chemistry - Knowledge of the chemical composition, structure, and properties of substances and of the chemical processes and transformations that they undergo. This includes uses of chemicals and their interactions, danger signs, production techniques, and disposal methods.
- Therapy and Counseling - Knowledge of principles, methods, and procedures for diagnosis, treatment, and rehabilitation of physical and mental dysfunctions, and for career counseling and guidance.
- Engineering and Technology - Knowledge of the practical application of engineering science and technology. This includes applying principles, techniques, procedures, and equipment to the design and production of various goods and services.
- Building and Construction - Knowledge of materials, methods, and the tools involved in the construction or repair of houses, buildings, or other structures such as highways and roads.
- Mathematics - Knowledge of arithmetic, algebra, geometry, calculus, statistics, and their applications.
- Biology - Knowledge of plant and animal organisms, their tissues, cells, functions, interdependencies, and interactions with each other and the environment.
- Geography - Knowledge of principles and methods for describing the features of land, sea, and air masses, including their physical characteristics, locations, interrelationships, and distribution of plant, animal, and human life.
Strengths you may need in this role.
- Systems Evaluation - Measuring how well a system is working and how to improve it.
- Repairing - Repairing machines or systems using the right tools.
- Operation and Control - Using equipment or systems.
- Mathematics - Using math to solve problems.
- Judgment and Decision Making - Thinking about the pros and cons of different options and picking the best one.
- Monitoring - Keeping track of how well people and/or groups are doing in order to make improvements.
- Operations Analysis - Figuring out what a product or service needs to be able to do.
- Troubleshooting - Figuring out what is causing equipment, machines, wiring, or computer programs to not work.
- Management of Financial Resources - Making spending decisions and keeping track of what is spent.
- Science - Using scientific rules and strategies to solve problems.
- Management of Personnel Resources - Selecting and managing the best workers for a job.
- Management of Material Resources - Managing equipment and materials.
- Active Learning - Figuring out how to use new ideas or things.
- Service Orientation - Looking for ways to help people.
- Time Management - Managing your time and the time of other people.
- Learning Strategies - Using the best training or teaching strategies for learning new things.
- Negotiation - Bringing people together to solve differences.
- Programming - Writing computer programs.
- Equipment Maintenance - Planning and doing the basic maintenance on equipment.
- Writing - Writing things for co-workers or customers.
- Technology Design - Making equipment and technology useful for customers.
- Critical Thinking - Thinking about the pros and cons of different ways to solve a problem.
- Reading Comprehension - Reading work-related information.
- Complex Problem Solving - Noticing a problem and figuring out the best way to solve it.
- Operations Monitoring - Watching gauges, dials, or display screens to make sure a machine is working.
- Installation - Installing equipment, machines, wiring, or computer programs.
- Speaking - Talking to others.
- Coordination - Changing what is done based on other people's actions.
- Equipment Selection - Deciding what kind of tools and equipment are needed to do a job.
- Systems Analysis - Figuring out how a system should work and how changes in the future will affect it.
- Social Perceptiveness - Understanding people's reactions.
- Active Listening - Listening to others, not interrupting, and asking good questions.
- Instructing - Teaching people how to do something.
- Quality Control Analysis - Testing how well a product or service works.
- Persuasion - Talking people into changing their minds or their behavior.
- Oral Comprehension - Listening and understanding what people say.
- Response Orientation - Quickly deciding if you should move your hand, foot, or other body part.
- Glare Sensitivity - Seeing something even if there is a glare or very bright light.
- Near Vision - Seeing details up close.
- Finger Dexterity - Putting together small parts with your fingers.
- Wrist-Finger Speed - Making fast, simple, repeated movements of your fingers, hands, and wrists.
- Speed of Limb Movement - Quickly moving your arms and legs.
- Peripheral Vision - Seeing something to your side when your are looking ahead.
- Visualization - Imagining how something will look after it is moved around or changed.
- Auditory Attention - Paying attention to one sound while there are other distracting sounds.
- Time Sharing - Doing two or more things at the same time.
- Reaction Time - Quickly moving your hand, finger, or foot based on a sound, light, picture or other command.
- Originality - Creating new and original ideas.
- Deductive Reasoning - Using rules to solve problems.
- Speed of Closure - Quickly knowing what you are looking at.
- Static Strength - Lifting, pushing, pulling, or carrying.
- Dynamic Strength - Exercising for a long time without your muscles getting tired.
- Dynamic Flexibility - Quickly and repeatedly bending, stretching, twisting, or reaching out with your body, arms, and/or legs.
- Perceptual Speed - Quickly comparing groups of letters, numbers, pictures, or other things.
- Sound Localization - Noticing the direction that a sound came from.
- Memorization - Remembering words, numbers, pictures, or steps.
- Written Expression - Communicating by writing.
- Gross Body Coordination - Moving your arms, legs, and mid-section together while your whole body is moving.
- Visual Color Discrimination - Noticing the difference between colors, including shades and brightness.
- Depth Perception - Deciding which thing is closer or farther away from you, or deciding how far away it is from you.
- Oral Expression - Communicating by speaking.
- Multilimb Coordination - Using your arms and/or legs together while sitting, standing, or lying down.
- Night Vision - Seeing at night or under low light.
- Speech Clarity - Speaking clearly.
- Gross Body Equilibrium - Keeping your balance or staying upright.
- Spatial Orientation - Knowing where things are around you.
- Fluency of Ideas - Coming up with lots of ideas.
- Inductive Reasoning - Making general rules or coming up with answers from lots of detailed information.
- Information Ordering - Ordering or arranging things.
- Mathematical Reasoning - Choosing the right type of math to solve a problem.
- Number Facility - Adding, subtracting, multiplying, or dividing.
- Selective Attention - Paying attention to something without being distracted.
- Flexibility of Closure - Seeing hidden patterns.
- Rate Control - Changing when and how fast you move based on how something else is moving.
- Hearing Sensitivity - Telling the difference between sounds.
- Problem Sensitivity - Noticing when problems happen.
- Category Flexibility - Grouping things in different ways.
- Far Vision - Seeing details that are far away.
- Written Comprehension - Reading and understanding what is written.
- Control Precision - Quickly changing the controls of a machine, car, truck or boat.
- Speech Recognition - Recognizing spoken words.
- Arm-Hand Steadiness - Keeping your arm or hand steady.
- Manual Dexterity - Holding or moving items with your hands.
- Explosive Strength - Jumping, sprinting, or throwing something.
- Trunk Strength - Using your lower back and stomach.
- Stamina - Exercising for a long time without getting out of breath.
- Extent Flexibility - Bending, stretching, twisting, or reaching with your body, arms, and/or legs.
Average Education Attained
Highest level of education earned by people in this career.
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Content sourced from United States Department of Labor Employment and Training Administration ("DOLETA") and the Minnesota Department of Employment & Economic Development ("DEED")